Meteor Crater in Northern Arizona
The Best Preserved and First Proven Meteorite Impact Site on Planet Earth!
By Lisa D. Smith

Towards the end of August 2008, Nancy and I took a trip out to Flagstaff in Northern Arizona. We traveled east of Flagstaff for about half an hour to meet our friend Frank, and to take a tour of the Meteor Crater. At 550 feet deep, the Meteor Crater is the site where over 50,000 years ago, a giant iron-nickel meteor approximately 150 feet wide and weighing several hundred thousand tons, traveled at about 26,000 miles per hour, and slammed into Earth with the force of about 20 million tons of TNT.

Moving at a hyper-velocity speed, this impact created extremely powerful shock waves in the meteorite, the rock, and the surrounding atmosphere. In the air, shock waves swept across the level plain devastating everything for a radius of several miles. In the ground, as the meteorite penetrated the rocky plain, pressures rose to over 20 million pounds per square inch, and both iron and rock experienced limited vaporization and extensive melting. Beyond the melted region, an enormous volume of rock underwent complete fragmentation and ejection.

The result of these violent conditions was the excavation of a giant bowl-shaped cavity. In less than a few seconds, a crater 700 feet deep and over 4000 feet across, was carved into this once flat, rocky plain. The tour of the Meteor Crater was incredible. When you see the crater in pictures you think it’s big – but nothing compares to standing near the edge--that’s when you realize just how massive it is. The floor of the crater is 550 feet deep – the equivalence of a 60 story building! Imagine this – the floor of the crater is big enough to accommodate 20 football games being played simultaneously with over two million fans watching from the sloping walls of the impact site.

Our tour guide was Eduardo Rubio. He did a great job of explaining the science behind the meteorite, the formation of the crater, and the fascinating history surrounding it. We also learned about the native flora and fauna – it was amazing to see so many wildflowers, and we saw a really neat lizard too. The views from the edge of the Crater were incredible – sweeping plains that lead up to the majestic mountains that surround the Flagstaff area. If you don’t take the tour, you can view the crater from the observation decks. The topographical terrain of the Meteor Crater is similar to the moon and other planets, so NASA designated it as an official training site for the Apollo Astronauts. The Crater was the setting for the movie ‘Star Man,’ as well as a number of documentaries.

When you’re at the crater, be sure to watch their program called ‘Collisions and Impacts’. The museum has great interactive exhibits that explain how the Crater came to be, its role in training astronauts and the how scientists are working to to detect future meteor impacts. Some exhibits show major craters from around the world and meteor showers, and one of the interactive exhibits shows meteors plummeting though space – complete with sound effects. Nancy had fun with this exhibit – she somehow managed to blow up earth! There is also a terrific gift shop that carries a number of souvenir items, jewelry, books, and fine gifts….we managed to do quite a bit of damage there!

Eduardo Rubio was featured on our online radio show, Way Back When, on Friday, October 3, 2008, from 11 - 2 pm. To listen to the entire, unedited show, please click here.
To listen to Eduardo's interview, please double click on the Play Button below: